Overview
- The New York Times reported that Guillermo Zuany Portillo fled Mexico to the United States and is reportedly under U.S. protection while Mexican authorities hold active arrest warrants for his detention.
- Mexican and U.S. sources tell reporters that Zuany acted for months as the principal local liaison to CIA personnel who trained state police and at times joined ground operations in Chihuahua.
- The covert presence of U.S. agents in Chihuahua was exposed after an April accident that killed two CIA officers, a revelation that led to resignations and the arrest this year of former state Attorney General César Jáuregui.
- Reporting says U.S. officials revoked Zuany’s visa over alleged cartel links and later reinstated it during cooperation with U.S. agencies, a sequence that has intensified scrutiny of how the partnership was managed.
- President Claudia Sheinbaum has ordered security briefings, accused Zuany of prior corruption and criminal ties, and the case now risks legal fights over extradition, fresh probes of state officials, and renewed debate over Mexico’s sovereignty in security operations.